Paper-file



( ModeL) J. A. WELGH.

Paper File. No. 243,66? Patented June 28,1881.

WTNE5EEE UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN A. WVELOH, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

PAPER-FILE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 243,664, dated June 28, 1881,

Application filed August 19, 1880. (ModeL) To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN A. WELGH, of the city of Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, have invented certain Improvements in Paper-Files, of which the followingis a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement upon that class of bill-files or temporary binders which are provided with two wires, one of which punctures and receives the bill in the first place, and the other (called a transferwire) receives one or more of them from the other whenever it may become necessary to remove from the file any one or more of the bills.

My said improvement will be hereinafter fully described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figures 1, 2, and 3 represent side elevations of a device embracing in its construction my said improvement, a bill, 0, being represented in a difi'erent position in each figure; Fig. 4, a plan view of the same; and Fig. 5, a crosssection of the puncturing-wire A, taken as indicated by the broken line 5 5 in Fig. 1.

0 indicates a base-plate for the wires, and is adapted to rest on a table, as represented in the drawings, when the device is in use, or

to be suspended upon a pin against a wall. Both the puncturing-wire A and the transferwire B extend up rigidly from the base-plate 0 without hinges, and are curved over toward each other, their points passing each other and lapping, the point of the transfer-wire B passing beneath wire A, which is cut away on the under side from a to a, where it is sharpened to a point.

The wire A is round and is practically rigid, but the wire B is oblate or flattened, and its greatest diameter is no greater and may be less than that of wire A, and it is necessarily flexible, and it acts as a spring, and when its outer end is under the outer end of wire A, as it is designed to be, it exerts constantly a certain amount of tensive force against the under side of wire A. The under side of wire A is cut away, in order that the vertical diameter of the two wires so lapped together maynot be greater than that of the body of wire A alone, so that the transfer of bills from wire A to wire B may be made easily and without tearing them, and so that it may hold the outer end of wire B securely beneath it.

The spring-wire B is flattened, in order that its upper end may bend truly vertically, and

not bend horizontally at all; for to bend at all in that way it would have to be bent edgewise, or in the direction of its long diameter. In other words, the form of the wire enables it to maintain its true position under wire A, and to resistdisplacement much more effectually than if it were round.

The under side of wire A at a has a recess, 0?, for the point of wire B, to prevent its displacement. An edge of a bill, c, on the right hand may be pushed a short distance between the two wires, as represented in Fig. 1, and then the body of the bill turned up and to the left, and the point a of wire A will puncture and pass through the bill, as shown in Fig. 2, and a continuation of the movement will place the bill entirely upon wire A, from which it may be easily transferred onto wire B without letting it go. If the bill be upon wire A, then, in order to remove it from the file, take hold of its free end with the same hand and draw it to the right until it passes off the point a, as shown in Fig. 3; then turn it to the left and pull it out from between the two wires. If, however, the bill be upon wire B, then take hold of its free end and turn it to the left into a horizontal position, and itmay be pulled edgewise directly out under point a from between the two wires. Thus a bill may be filed or removed from the file by the use of one hand in one continuous movement.

I am aware that devices for the same purpose have been patented having two wires to lap each other; but such devices have had springs to hold the wires together and catches to hold them asunder, and require more than one movement, and have many more parts than mine, and I disclaim all such constructions; but

What I do claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The bill-file consisting of the curved and pointed round wire A, cut away and. groovedat its point, substantially as shown, and the curved and flattened wire B, the turned-up point of which rests in one end of the groove of wire A, leaving a space between the wires where they overlap, to allow of the insertion of the bill in the act of filing, both wires being rigidly mounted upon plate'O, and adapted to operate substantially as shown audrdescribed.

J. A. WELGH.

Witnesses:

WM. HEADLAM, J r., T. H. OAVANAUGH. 

